New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

Thats still great going Keith - I am supposed to be meeting Henry (9oznuggetman) up at my place this weekend - he might be going up today I think but hes keen as the weathers supposed to turn to custard! I just put Dads engine into the back of my truck as I have decided to follow the lead I am currently working to where ever it goes!
Henry reckons we might replace the boards on the back of the house and then we will go looking for gold. He and his brother got around five grammes just within say 400m of where you had your caravan parked - he never ceases to amaze me!

How odd getting 3 nuggets the exact same weight one after the other! A goldbug is definately on the buy list asap. The F2 wouldnt cut the mustard. Money is a bit tight as I cant work until my wifes back is healed. She is freaking out about being laid up on her back alone during an earthquake so I'm going to have to stay home for a while. Still getting a few aftershocks now and then.

How neat going exactly where some fellow(s) had been 100 odd years back and seeing evidence. Same with the tools you have found. Must be an odd feeling.

Another very popular little rifle during the latter years of the Gol mining era in Central Otago was the Little Winchester Single shot .22 Bolt action - they were so simple that they never broke down, reliable and accurate and a inexpensive.

I have seen a couple of photos taken in Central Otago featuring men holding these rifles including one of the crew of a Gold dredge and although the fact that the rifle is being held by a dredge crew member it was probably being held as a 'prop' and would have had nothing to do with protection but rather would have been used by the dredgeman and his mates for a Sundays Bunny hunting to supplement the cooks fare.

The gold nugget is the second of three which I picked up in my wanderings in the hills which weighs exactly eight pennyweight to the grain or near enough to 12 grammes - I picked it up with another ounce of smaller nuggets. This nugget and its mates are testimonial to the fact that each and every one of us can find our own spots to find good gold without stepping on the toes of others as it was found where no one else would have thought of looking.

Edited by user Wednesday, 15 February 2012 8:00:42 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Thats a great thought but I will possibly have it - I know that there were three or so publications about Macetown - I loaned one to a person and never saw it again then there was a thin book which until I looked for it now I was sure I had or have and there is Macetown and Arrow Gorge a publication By DOC which I have got.

If it is a copy of the one I once loaned to a guy which is irretrievable because hes dead at the moment then it could well be a treasure to me as I have a soft spot for Macetown - camped there for two weeks every January and every Easter for most of the 70s - love the place.

A couple of photos of my last trip there - not relics of the goldfields but an incentive for others who love the wide open spaces, Goldmining history and getting away from the 'rat race'

For those who think that all the gold has gone from up the Arrow Gorge I also include a photograph of one sixth of three afternoons Gold fossicking in the Arrow River - the Gold in this photo weighs just over one ounce so that in the three afternoons we got six ounces.

Edited by user Wednesday, 15 February 2012 10:05:01 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

hi lammerlaw ihave a look for you on the weekend and let you know whats it called exkiwi123

That will be cool thanks exkiwi123

Yes it sure is - a friend of mine who cruises this forum but who is too sensible to be a member once told me of a crow bar which had been put in place a couple of generations ago to mark a rich gold lead with specimen gold - I went looking for it and assuming that he knew the place and I knew the place then no one else need know it or come across the crow bar, wonder why it was there and dig out of curiousity - so I removed it - I never could find the exact spot again!

Edited by user Sunday, 4 March 2012 9:38:49 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Yes it did when I initially went back but have since discovered that there was a second clue so all good!

The old time miners spent their leisure time in a number of activities, perhaps largely governed by whether they were married or not - if they were not married then there was socialising and if they were married then family matters - but whether they were married or not food had to be put on the table. As the Gold fields became more established with the advent of the big companies and the sluicing and dredging eras individuals and families had more permanent homes with gardens but also supplemented their food with what nature provided.

Many if not most of the miners had a rifle for the express purpose of taking bunnies which were plentiful in those days and a favourite for the pot - this rifle is one which also came form Central Otago - it took specialist ammunition made for this one model and no other and being an expensive rifle at the time was not common and mor elikely to be found in the hands of someone who had a little extra cash and could afford the best - though a little impractical due to ammunition supply. It is a .22 but never took the standard .22 ammunition. The two packets of ammunition on the left are dated April 1915 while the rest of the packets are early but not that old.

It is also the first successful .22 semi Automatic rifle - the Winchester Model 1903. This rifle was in Central Otago at the time when the big dredges were operating so also classify as relics of the Gold Fields. The reason for several packets of ammo there is so that any person who collects these firearms knows I have it and I am always open to negotiation - check the US values though before you make me an offer!...I am also open to exchange for other firearm related material or better still Gold fields collectibles - (Party Political Propaganda Broadcast or is that self promotion?)

Edited by user Thursday, 16 February 2012 5:31:19 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Many of the old miners were smokers and evidence of their smoking can often be found throughout the Goldfields. Often fragments of old pipes will turn up and as a kid I often used to go looking for them.

The pipes I have found have all been clay ones though there were other types but I have never found them.

The pipes shown below are all from one hut site and illustrate the diversity of shapes, patterns and markings. The Ben Nevis ones even seem to have subtle differences in the trade name marking.

Some of the pipes are quite elaborate with interesting patterns - the Eagle clawed one is perhaps the best of the lot.

In front of the hut shown in the bottom photograph a dark heap can be seen - this was the ash heap and it was from that heap that all of these pipes came...the lot of them.

Edited by user Wednesday, 22 February 2012 9:22:16 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified